SOMATIC
EXPERIENCING
What is Somatic Experiencing®?
Somatic Experiencing®is a body-oriented therapeutic model applied in multiple professional settings for healing trauma and other stress disorders.
It is based on a multidisciplinary intersection of physiology, psychology, ethology, biology, neuroscience, indigenous healing practices, and medical biophysics and has been clinically applied for more than four decades. It is the life’s work of Dr. Peter A. Levine.
In Somatic Experiencing® we focus on the natural bodily (somatic) responses rather than focusing only on thoughts or emotions associated with a traumatic event.
We can’t think our way out of traumatic experiences and one of the biggest issues we face as human beings is that we can feel trapped by our physical and emotional states.
These are the times that we feel panicky and anxious, without the ability to calm down. Other times we feel depressed and unmotivated and can’t seem to accomplish simple tasks.
The brilliance of somatic interventions is the ability to directly intervene by developing new neural pathways and behaviors that provide alternative ways of responding to your environment without getting stuck in the habits of the past.
Trauma is NOT what happened to you.
It’s how the body reacts to and stores what has happened.
It’s an echo — a reverberation — a felt experience still stuck in the tissues and nerves of the body. If we can identify and relate to it, we can learn how to communicate with the sensation of threat — and from that space:
Healing can emerge in a way that goes far beyond symptoms. This work is about getting to the root.
What does it mean to relate to the…
Root of your trauma responses?
The body doesn’t speak through words; that’s the mind. The body speaks through sensation.
We can’t talk at it, we can talk about it, but the actual physical embodiment of a state is what helps us get in touch with ourselves in a way that is so tactile and intimate that we begin to speak a new language!
Somatic Experiencing® engages body awareness as an intervention in psychotherapy. Somatic interventions address the connections between the brain, the mind, and behavior. Therapists who emphasize “talk therapy” generally focus on the mind as influencing psychological health. However, as a somatically oriented therapist, I will use my knowledge of the essential functions of the nervous system to enhance the therapeutic process greatly.
Somatic Experiencing® offers vital concepts that include:
Grounding: This concept essentially sits at the heart of all body-based psychotherapy. Introduced by Alexander Lowen, developer of bioenergetics, grounding refers to our ability to experience ourselves as embodied. Grounding involves sensing the body, feeling your feet on the earth, and calming the nervous system.
Cultivating Somatic Awareness: The somatic practitioner promotes awareness of the body. We can then work with breath constrictions, and tension patterns held just under our conscious awareness. Simply bringing awareness to physical sensations creates change.
Staying Descriptive: Whereas early somatic practitioners made interpretations based on tension or posture patterns, modern-day somatic practitioners become curious about the client's bodily experience. You can try this on your own by noticing your sensations. Use descriptive words such as hot, cold, tingly, sharp, or dull.
Deepening Awareness: Once we have become aware of sensations or a tension pattern, we deepen the experience by gently amplifying the sensations. For example, we can focus our breath on the sensation, make a sound, or add movements. The key is to deepen at a pace that does not create overwhelm and honors your timing.
Resourcing: When I help clients develop resources, we focus on increasing a sense of choice and safety and identifying people, times, and places that facilitate a sense of security, calm, or peace. How do you know when you feel peaceful or relaxed? How does your body feel?
Titration: When we focus on traumatic events, our body-centered awareness helps us become conscious of our physical tension patterns. Titration refers to experiencing small amounts of distress at a time to discharge the tension. Used in Somatic Experiencing®, titration is achieved by “pendulating” or oscillating attention between feeling distressed and feeling safe and calm.
Sequencing: When somatic tension begins to discharge or release, we report the movement of emotion and sensations. Pressure in the belly might move to the chest and then becomes tight in the throat and forehead. Sometimes we might visibly see hands or legs shake and tremble. The tension eventually releases–sometimes in tears, an ability to breathe more freely, or possibly the feeling of lightness.
Movement and Process: Somatic Experiencing® taps into our innate healing capacity by inviting us to listen to the story as the body tells. Our postures, gestures, and use of space provide insight into our experience. For example, a client with an impulse to crouch, cower, or hide is invited to engage in these defensive movements mindfully. After doing so, she may notice a new impulse to push her arms and kick her legs. As she intuitively re-engages these protective movements, resolution may arise with a newfound sense of calm in her body.
Boundary Development: When we allow our somatic awareness to guide the pacing of therapy, we must work in the here and now. Focusing on the present moment empowers you to stay responsive to changing needs and helps you develop clear boundaries. A boundary allows you to recognize and speak your “yes” and your “no” in a way that enables you to feel protected and strong.
Self-Regulation: Modern somatic therapies integrate research from neuroscience about how we respond to stress and trauma. Such a study emphasizes the importance of mindfully staying connected to the body amid big emotions or sensations. When you are aware of body sensations, you can better regulate (respond effectively) to emotional intensity. Ultimately this helps you stay connected and supported amidst the power of healing trauma.
SE® FOR kids & teens
The Somatic Experiencing® (SE®) Model directly provides services to children/adolescents and addresses the following: PTSD and other mental health disorders with symptoms such as nightmares/night terrors, insomnia, explosive emotions, disruptive behaviors, attachment issues, tics, panic, and other anxiety-related issues.
When infants, young children, and teens suffer a problematic situation or severe injury or are deeply frightened by an event, they can be traumatized, carrying inside them subtle residual symptoms that may stay with them for a lifetime. By listening to the body’s ‘felt sense,’ even a few minutes spent with a child/adolescent could make them more resilient to life’s stresses and extreme events.
Somatic Experiencing® helps the child to gain mastery over those feelings and situations that are overwhelming. Doing this indirectly through verse and image, story and play, and bodily sensations; are the languages of a child’s experience.
Somatic Experiencing® helps teens move beyond the cognitive process of understanding their trauma by reprogramming the body's primitive survival instincts, which allows them to feel a greater sense of connection, safety, and ease in their bodies.
Signs of Trauma in Children and Adolescents
If you think your child or teen is affected by trauma, they will display some common reactions. After a stressful event, parents or teachers may notice withdrawal symptoms, fearfulness, irritability, depression, anxiety, excessive shyness, clinging, emotional outbursts, aggression toward other children, hurting animals, or other forms of acting out.
Other indications include:
-Avoidance behaviors, nightmares, bedwetting
-Thrashing in bed or difficulty falling asleep
-Phobias (such as the fear of dogs if the child has been bitten or is afraid of being bitten)
-General phobias (phobia about going to school, phobia of pain, etc.)
Somatic Experiencing® helps children and teens to identify and express the situations they are experiencing. In this way, they regain confidence in themselves.
Through positive symbols and the elaboration of physical sensations, I can help guide these individuals through their trauma to transform it into a positive experience.
I offer in-person and Zoom sessions and a sliding scale for each session. You can also inquire about purchasing a package.
Sliding scale pricing is as follows:
$65, $85, $105
Each session runs approximately 60-90 minutes.